Clutch
by Morrigayn DeWyvern
Summary: Predaking deals with the results of Shockwave's experiments. Minor Smut. No Pairings. Collaboration and beta'ed with PadawanJinx. M for minor smut and abuse. Spoilers for Deadlock.


_A/N: I am still around. My muse ran away for awhile. She is back so I can write. Updates on other works are forthcoming. This work has been a collaboration between myself and PadawanJinx. Padawan also beta'ed the work. _

_The fauna mentioned in this work are not oc. They are found in various continuities in the Transformers Universe. Some of the flora and places are made up and some are found in the Transformers continuities. Sperm storage and embryonic diapause are found in many insects, reptiles, birds and mammals. These creatures can store sperm to use at a later time or halt the growth of an embryo until the environment is more suitable for reproductive success. I am breaking with cannon/fannon concerning mating/reproduction for the Predacons. There will be no spark merges, spark bonds, etc. Of course, I don't make money off of my writing and none of the characters are mine. Minor smut._

Clutch

Predaking flew lazily over the planet below. He wondered at the glory of the wild, reborn Cybertron as the fading, dull pulsar that was its sun set on the far horizon. Multiple moons hung heavy in the sky. The internal light of the Well of All Sparks lent an ethereal glow to the metallic land beneath him.

First to reclaim Cybertron had been the vermin: ground crawlers, scraplets, cyber-ticks, cyber-gnats, bot-spiders and energy leeches had waken first from stasis. Those nasty creatures while small wereproliferate, and Predaking made many a meal of the swarms of them in the beginning. Then came the slightly larger creatures: electric toads, glitch mice, frizz-rats, razor snakes and the like. He preferred helio-hamsters and guinea pig-o-trons when they woke from stasis. The hyenabots and hydro-weasels were the first scavengers to loot the remains of his meals. As orns passed, even more of the large land creatures both carnivore who ingested processed energon and protoforms of living creatures began to repopulate the desolate landscape, and the gentler geophagic creatures that ate and processed raw energon deposits and other metals, ores and minerals directly.

Predaking did not remain alone in the skies. All too soon, cryo-condors, pigeonoids and even robo-chickens were flocking to the skies chasing after cyber-flies and cybertronian butterflies to the never ending delight of the feral cyber-dogs, cyber-cats, and cougaraiders who preyed on them. He'd even spotted a pack of hellhounds tearing down a titanium moosebot once when flying over the abandoned ruins of Kaon. In the caves and underground openings, drillers, dwellers, electric bats and harenezumi regained their traditional footholds. In the oil lakes, energon pools and seas, robo-minnows, alloy-gators and oxide sharks began to repopulate along with other creatures of the deeps. Followed by the cyber-ducks, dynametal ducks and other fliers that made their home in the world's flowing areas.

Finally, the sentient wanderers in the far forgotten reaches of space began to return. First it was Prime and his small contingent of Autobots. Then a few dregs of Decepticons and Insecticons. Even later, Neutrals began tentative forays to return home. What had began as a trickle of the returning had become a stream that turned into a deluge. Vos, Polyhex, Iacon and other cities began to give out small glimmers of life. Darkmount had become the home base of Shockwave and Starscream as they tried to regroup the few Decepticons that still wished to fight and while tryingnot kill each other in the process. Prime had taken his place in the historic Citadel in Iacon. The Seekers and their kin had reclaimed Vos and Sonic Canyons which had been their abodes from time immemorial. Many of the others had returned to revive their fallen cities. Even Praxus was rising from the burned remains.

Predaking stayed far from the areas inhabited by the other Cybertronians includingthe primitives. The Insecticons had tried to set up hives in his domain but he had rousted them quickly. Instead, they built their hives around the ancient smelting pools.

Predaking winged hard to his cave in the Manganese Mountains near the Sea of Rust. He circled over his home for several kliks warily scanning the area of intruders. While he did not worry about the animals, Predaking had no desire to interact with Decepticons, Autobots or Neutrals. His scans and pings came back empty. There were no spark signatures or other evidence that his home had been violated by the more "evolved" of Cybertron. He landed delicately on the ledge and folded his massive wings against his form. He moved in silent, lethal grace down the well worn path of his cave. The tunnel meandered for some time before coming to a large open cave glittering with amyriad ofmetals, geodes and crystalline matrices. The cave was warm from the internal heat of the beating spark of Primus.

Predaking circled a few times over his sleeping area. Instinct had given him direction about the types of metals, crystals and other objects that made up his eyrie. Here and there were the stripped back struts and helms of sheepacron and zap-ponies from previous meals. A tiny turbo-fox barked and ran away with a small strut of a sheepacron. Predaking ignored the insignificant interloper. With a chuffling sigh, Predaking sank onto his bed. He closed his optics and drifted between wake and recharge. Soft flames flickered from his maw as he ventilated causing shadows to contort and dance on the wall of the cave. He rested to conserve his strength and energon for the coming travail. Where once his sides were lean and tapered now they were gravid and distended with eggs. Soon, he would clutch. He had spent the day feeding heavily in preparation.

Predaking was of mixed thoughts concerning the coming brood. One one servo, it would mean more of his kind. One the other, how he came to be like this left a sour taste in his mouth. He chortled and chuffed at the inherent hubris of the "regular" Cybertronians. Rage also simmered under the laugh at the wrong done to him and his kind. He would never forgive Megatron for his betrayal and destruction of the other Predacons although he understood the paranoia of the gladiator warlord. Shockwave on the other hand, he hated to the core of his beating spark. That sociopathic monster masquerading as a scientist truly had no morals or qualms about anything that caught his fancy.

Predaking closed his optics and ventilated deeply. He turned to his side to alleviate the pressure in his abdomen. He considered taking his bipedal alternate form but dismissed it as the pressure began to increase exponentially. Messages scrolled across his HUD as his body began to prepare to expel the brood of eggs within. Predaking stood and began to pace back and forth as the peristaltic contractions in his gestation chamber began to move the eggs down into his valve to exit his body. It didn't hurt, but moving eased his processor and helped his protoform adjust to the changes. Soon, his valve cover retracted. He could feel lubricant flooding his valve and dripping down his inner thigh plates. He stopped pacing and crouched down with his hind legs wide and his tail curled up over his left hip and back. The egg stretched his valve wide as it exited his body. He felt the pressure increase to the point of pain then ease as the egg dropped onto the ground of his nest. He wanted to turn and look but very quickly another egg was preparing to lay. He rested his large head on his forepaws and rocked his hips back and forth.

Joors passed. A few eggs would come forth. Then his body would rest. A few more would pass. Finally, late in the night, the last eggs exited his weary protoform.Predaking huffed heavily as he felt his valve cover close. His HUD notified him that the process was complete and his gestational chamber was closing. He turned to curl around his eggs. His yellow optics wandered over the clutch he had produced from his own body. There were fifteen eggs in all. The shells were silver with ebony spots. He wondered how many were kindled and would bring forth new life. Predaking wondered what forms they would take. It was overwhelming to think he would be the first Cybertronian that was not an animal to bring forth sentient life on their newly awakened planet. With that last thought, Predaking fell into an exhausted recharge.

Predaking's optics began to move under their closed covers not too long after he fell into recharge. Intermittently, they would partially open and then close. He gnashed his teeth and growled in his sleep. His tail would thrash from time to time as his claws pawed the ground causing the metal to squeal ashis talons lifted metal in long curls and deep gouges. Predaking was lost in a recharge memory flux. Abruptly, he jerked. His head rose as he roared and spat fire at the perceived Shockwave invading his home to take his children. He came back to himself as his processor cleared. He was in his cave. Alone. It was a terrible flux brought on by fear and fatigue. It had elements of the past mixed. Predaking's sides heaved as he tried to cool his internal temperature and still the wild pulsing of his spark.

When he was calmer, he looked around his cave. The cave was not damaged too much from his recharging terror. The wall was scorched and a few cuts were gouged **i**n the floor. He turned his long neck to check on his clutch. All the shells were intact. He hadn't broken any in his thrashing. He sent a silent prayer of thanks to Primus. Feeling a bit foolish yet needing to calm his processor, Predaking rose up from his nest and silently stalked through the cave system with his scanners and senses spread wide searching for scavengers, predators or intruders. Predaking found nothing. He quickly returned to his nest. He rotated the eggs and then curled around them to keep them warm. It took a long time for his battle routines to to subside,but he could not fall back into a much needed recharge. His processor kept returning to the memories of the Nemesis, the destroyed Darkmount on Earth and Shockwave's experiments.


End file.
